For many residents of the Sea Breeze Resort in Islamorada, Florida Hurricane Irma not only destroyed their homes, but also their way of life. Due to current building codes many will not be able to replace their older mobile homes.
Kelly Jordan, USA TODAY

Members of the Nashville Fire Department assisting with Hurricane Irma relief efforts in Jacksonville.(Photo: NFD)

After back-to-back out-of-state deployments, first responders from the Nashville area have returned home from assisting with relief efforts from hurricanes Harvey and Irma.

“When we got back, I was back in Nashville for 36 hours, then we left for Florida,” said Nashville Fire Capt. Patrick Hunt, who went to assist with rescue operations in the Houston area before Nashville was requested to help in Jacksonville, Fla.

The team of 40 from several Metro departments, as well as Franklin and Brentwood fire departments, returned to Nashville late Thursday night. They departed for Tallahassee Sept. 8, from where they were then received orders from FEMA to help firefighters in Jacksonville.

Rob Thomas, a Franklin firefighter among the crew, oversaw a group of seven rescuers and two boats helping residents evacuate near the St. Johns River in Jacksonville.

Others from the Middle Tennessee group worked at another end of the river.

“The water came up much, much faster and much higher than they originally anticipated, and there were, for lack of a better explanation, people trapped everywhere,” Thomas said.

“As soon as we got out of the vehicle, we were met by citizens saying, ‘I’ve got a neighbor, I’ve got family, I’ve got people in there.”

Team helps with water evacuations, rescues

In the few days the Nashville-area team worked in Jacksonville, said Franklin Deputy Chief Glenn Johnson, they were able to help with 51 evacuations— people who needed help “floating out” of their homes or another location — and two rescues. Rescues, Johnson said involve removing people from a dangerous situation.

“Of the people we brought out, I would say everyone was equally thankful as the last,” Thomas said. “They couldn’t say thank you enough. They were extremely glad to see us. The surprise that we were from Middle Tennessee was the biggest thing.”

Some of the people they spoke with initially thought the group of rescuers were from the Jacksonville Fire Department, Thomas recalled, until they saw Nashville and Franklin logos on equipment.

“Most people couldn’t believe we were down there that far from home working that area,” Thomas said.

While riding Hurricane Irma out in an old vacant mall in Jacksonville, the group shared accommodations with departments from Louisiana and Michigan, though Thomas said he knew there were “teams from all over the country” that had responded to Florida to also help.

'We just kept hearing them hollering'

Hunt talked about his team helping rescue a woman and her small children who were floating on an air mattress in a flooded area near the St. Johns River.

“We just kept hearing them hollering,” Hunt said. “We finally seen them. They kind of just clung to a fence at a parking lot. If they’d have let go and got in the rapids, they’d have been gone.”

In all, Hunt said that though some residents were displaced, the damage the team saw in Florida “was not as extensive” as he expected it would be.

Joseph Pleasant, public information officer for the Nashville Fire Department, said the teams sent both to Texas and Florida were requested by the Tennessee Emergency Management Agency, which had received a request from FEMA.

Pleasant said the crew will submit expenses related to the trips to TEMA, which will pass the invoice along to FEMA for likely reimbursement.